[Davidtmp]

In response to SouthKnox, I couldn't disagree more with some of your points. People look at HRP as being a direct competition. To an extent yes. Carowinds is a regional park. The difference for HRP is Myrtle Beach. Most people don't go to Myrtle Beach for a trip to the amusement park. It is a vacation destination, usually you go and spend a week at a time there. How many millions of visitors do they get a year? HRP is gonna draw from that crowd, and they will probably be busy as hell. HRP will have the amount of people it needs to make money and grow. We don't have millions of people coming to Charlotte and staying for a week. Two very different parks in totally different situations.
I don't hate the new wave pool, but I don't go to the one we have now. Too crowded if I did want to go. I go with my family(I have small children), and the kids love the kids area. I may go ride some while my wife stays with them, but I go so they can have fun.
As for all the arguments about getting new vs old? I don't visit as many parks as some of you do and ride every coaster. I am sure there are many more that do not. So a used coaster to many of us is just as good as new. I hate seeing CF getting ripped for a lot of stuff we may not know all the details to. Carowinds went thru a stretch where it seemed we got a new coaster every year or two(or used). Don't forget to look at other things, like the economy, and how much it cost to build. Building supplies have went up(look at the trouble Lowe's and Home Depot has had with a downturn in housing). So the costs of putting up a coaster also has went up. Does it make sense to spend $15mil on something new, or maybe $7mil to relocate something, not knowing how the economy is going to be for the next few years. They may need to take a step back and look at the company as a whole and the debt they have taken on. Remember, they have to make smart decisions and make the shareholders money. Just like any other business in America. You can't keep everyone happy thru this, just be patient. I don't see Carowinds going anywhere.

[Thriller]

I would actually be fine if I knew that some re-hab would go on also during the off season. Get some more fresh paint on the buildings and rides, do some clean-up of the wooded areas (goldrusher), and just little things that make a big change. TR also needs a new que line and station re-hab! I just hope that this is just some simple changes CF wants before actually delivering what we all want...but who knows?

[Edwardo]

For crying out loud, Carowinds is NOT going to close the rides side down. Have you SEEN how busy the park gets? Geauga Lake did not bring people in. Carowinds Does. Each time I went to Carowinds this year, lines were longer on everything than the longest line on the dry side of Geauga Lake. They're closing half of that park down because no one went (trust me, I was there, no one went).

This isn't like that. And that wasn't really CF's fault.

[njf]

CP, KI, Valleyfair, and WoF got coasters this year. CW, KD, Dorney, Knotts' and MiA are getting coasters next year - mostly GL hand-me-downs. This leaves CGA and Carowinds as the only ones not getting a coaster so far - and CGA is slated for a GCI woodie in 2009.

WOF received their coaster in 2006 but marketed it as new this year because of improvements in "landscaping!" Knotts' is getting NEW coasters two years in a row too!

[cdp123]

Well, atleast Cedar Fair is investing money in the waterpark...

Yeah, and investing in a new location for all of the roller coasters too. I can see it now...no more Carowinds...it'll be "CaroWaters". pffft what a joke this is.

[rjdunvance]

Hey guess just remember "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait"

[coasterbruh]

^ only thing coming to those who wait are the left overs from those who proceed!

[kewlaidkiddd]

OK so... I'm thinking about this some more and just trying to understand exactly what is going on here.

No I'm still not getting a season pass this year... mainly just because I barely used mine this year as I got a little bored... but I still love the park as many of us do.

We're just all a little perturbed... but thats good... because what has this caused. Look at this one thread alone that is now 4 pages long. Why? Because we are b*tching and doing it a lot.

And what has been learned from this thread?

Carowinds is getting more to its water park. We have a decent sized park. A good sized dry park and a good sized water park.

Do they match? Not really. Our water park is nowhere near the size in comparison to our dry side. So what do you do? Beef it up to match. Do you put expensive things like slides and such? Nah... You bring something small in.. like a new wave pool.

What did we get this year? Return of Frenzoid. Why? It was something that wasn't there that was part of the park before. Do we die hard fans like it? Nah. Because its old to us.. but I recall going numerous times this year and I always saw a line at it. I personally don't like the Vortex... But the line was packed for it this year. We had a good sales year.

So back to our b*tching. What would a company have learned from this. Though the general public likes having a water park nearby, the diehard fans are about their park. What else? We don't like used rides. And? We don't like waiting. And? Carowinds has Die Hard Fans.

So are they going to drop the park? No - we proved that here from our goings on.
We have recieved nothing new for the past few years. Why? Its cheaper. What does it being cheaper mean? Do you really think that its because they don't care? Nah. Its using the resources that you have to save your money for something bigger.

So what do we get? Another Copy Ride? Tomb Raider, Italian Job?
A used coaster? I think not.

We have to face it... Carowinds is getting popular... so we have to let them put in whats going to appeal to the average guest. That water park stays busy. These other rides stay busy too. So this means that the park is making money. As attenddence is up.

I'm sure yall also noticed that Scarowinds was much better this year than the past two... so a little money went there too.

So if the park is making money from attendence, and we are saving money by putting in cheaper rides like the wave pool, and the revamped Frenzoid... And people keep coming back... sure us die hard fans aren't getting passes next year and they loose those few sales but i mean seriously do you think they are going to care if they lose a few peoples 80$ pay for itself in two trips tickets? No because the standard customer keeps coming back. They're obviously going to do something big for us to make us shine again.

I mean we are in the growing city of Charlotte so its obviously something that is going to stick around. We'll be getting something soon because they are obviously going to want to get us back some. It will probably be 2009, but I believe we will actually get something(s) that are solely belonging to the park.

[Tinkerdog]

Year after year, the same ole crap at Carowinds.

Show CedarFair you mean business, and save your money up and go next year to NON-Cedarfair parks, and let them know about it in their email.

Hit em where it hurts..... in their pocketbook.

And if they close Carowinds down, then??? so what......... no big loss, they haven't invested much of anything in it. We have lots of alternative parks not that far away, either.

[Edwardo]

Well, atleast Cedar Fair is investing money in the waterpark...

Yeah, and investing in a new location for all of the roller coasters too. I can see it now...no more Carowinds...it'll be "CaroWaters". pffft what a joke this is.

Please. Have you been to Geauga Lake? Since CF took over? It was dead. From day one. Carowinds probably had the 2nd smallest water park in the Paramount chain, and this was likely planned before CF even took over.

So, what, Carowinds had one off year? And that was likely due to changing management who decided to not get rid of Flight of Fear at a park in order to get rid of Hypersonic instead? (BTW, I'd love to have Hypersonic)

One year of no additions in a transition period where a whole new company purchased the park and we're all talking up the park's last days.

Why would they get rid of a park that makes money? Stop comparing Carowinds to Geauga Lake. It's NOT the same situation in any sense. You've seen ONE year of Cedar Fair rule.

[GriffonBoy69]

I see exactly where all of you are coming on this subject and I agree to an extent, yes it is disappointing that we did not get anything for the dry side, but at least they are putting money into carowinds which is always a good sign! That being said however, I have told some friends and family that we are getting a new wavepool, and they all agree that, while a new wavepool is nice, they still should have added a waterslides or two because honestly, we could use a couple slides. Now I for one am still glad money is being put into carowinds unlike geuga lake and I will wait paciently for 09.

[SouthKnox79]

Okay I will for now at least drop my argument about my speculation of Carowinds eventual closing or sell. I must say this though... a lot of you argue that Charlotte is such the busting metropolis that it just doesnt have the chance of going anywhere. Thats where I really disagree and in fact I think that may make the argument more about it eventually heading out. Look at Opryland and look at how much Nashville was growing and is continuing to grow. What happened however is that Gaylord looked at a park that was bigger than Carowinds and considered it near build out and as sad as it was decided that the property was more profitable as a shopping mall. Much like what I think will end up happening to Geauga Lake I think that the dry side will turn into a mix of residential and commercial development. So now back to Carowinds, If you really look at it the potential for it to become a MEGA Park are slim so without the revenue a Mega park would create your then only looking at the revenue a "regional park" would create. The big question is the park more profitable in it's current state or is the land more profitable than the business. Think about it a large monthly lease multiplied time and time again is a lot of money and likely a lot more than the park creates. Now I really hope that Carowinds continues to grow but I do think they need to step it up a notch and if they don't step it up I will unfortunately go back to the doomsday scenario.

[CoasterChris]

I'm not that dissapointed. I have always wanted Carowinds to do a wave pool with a real beach front setting and finally get our cabannas that were mentioned years ago. I think it's a great addition for the water park which i think needed to be expanded just cause it was so crowded and tight walking through there.

As far as a coaster i would much rather wait till next year so we can get something completely new and not a used coaster from GL.
I think 2009 will bring us something launched or a copy of CW Hyper and that i'm more than willing to wait another year for.

It just makes sence to make major improvements to the parks that make the most money and get higher attendance first then then dish out the same treatment for the other parks the following year.

[arjaybee]

Any park that does 2 million plus a year in attendance every year is in no danger of being closed down, so Carowinds ain't going anywhere. I will be making a few extra visits to KD to check out Dominator, Volcano, FOF, XLC, Tomb Raider, Italian Job, Grizzly...heck, now that I think about it there is enough variety at KD to justify the extra 90 minutes I have to drive to get there vs. the drive to Carowinds. Also, the reason I am thinking about getting a KD season pass is to show that I would sooner get a pass for a premier coaster addition than the addition of a wave pool. I am sure that KD will experience a much higher percentage gain in season pass sales than Carowinds will for 2008. Heck, Carowinds will most likely see a decline in pass sales. :angry:

[coasterbruh]

I'm not that dissapointed. I have always wanted Carowinds to do a wave pool with a real beach front setting and finally get our cabannas that were mentioned years ago. I think it's a great addition for the water park which i think needed to be expanded just cause it was so crowded and tight walking through there.

In case you didnt notice "beach frontage" simply means decending into the deep end ie; current wave pool. From the press release there isnt going to be anything different from this wave pool than the other. If I want cabana i'll go to the coco cabana and if I want a cabana boy catering to my every needs i'll go to craigs list! I'm curious to see if anyone uses thos "upcharge" things